• 
• Social Work Month 2012
  • Social Work Month 2012 Toolkit Homepage
  • Social Work Month 2012 Press Releases
  • Social Work Month 2012 Multimedia
  • Social Work Month 2012 Key Messages
  • Social Work Month Activity Overview
  • Social Work Month 2012 Logos
  • Social Work Month 2012 Photo Project
  • Social Work Month 2012 Merchandise
  • Social Work Month 2012 Proclamation Template
  • The History of Social Work Month
  • Questions: socialworkmonth@naswdc.org

  Social Work Month 2011
  Social Workers Change Futures - Targeted outreach and promotional ideas, including tips for securing endorsements, hosting events, publishing articles and marketing your private practice.

  Social Work Month 2010
  Social Workers Inspire Community Action - Visual guides to three social work public education websites, profiles of inspiring social workers, and tips for promoting the profession.

  Social Work Month 2009
  Social Work: Purpose and Possibility - Information and tools for social work student recruitment, sample consumer radio PSAs, and specific tips for working with the media.

Health Care Navigation Home

Talking Points

• Medical social work was founded at Massachusetts General Hospital in the early 1900s. The position was created by Richard Clarke Cabot to help patients to deal with areas of their life that made treatment difficult.

• The Affordable Care Act of 2010 calls for creation of the “accountable care organization” (ACO)—a health care delivery model that promotes shared accountability for improving patient care and controlling costs for a defined population.

• Social workers have demonstrated their value in many of the ACO or medical home demonstration projects currently underway throughout the nation. 

• Among vulnerable populations, medical home programs are showing improvement in access to primary care and reductions in avoidable emergency room use.

• Social workers are present in public health, acute and chronic health care settings, providing a range of services including health education, crisis intervention, supportive counseling and case management.

• The social determinants of health - which include income, housing, and education, among other factors – have a profound impact on medical outcomes.

• Approximately one-half of the adult population may lack the needed literacy skills to effectively use the U.S. healthcare system

• Access to timely, comprehensive, and equitable health care for individuals varies considerably in our country.

• The health care system in the U.S. is complex and multidisciplinary. Issues arising from diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, health maintenance and prevention are further compounded by multiple sources of funding for services.

• The growth in medical technology offers hope and improved quality of life to many people, yet technical advances also raise healthcare costs and introduce social, legal, and ethical dilemmas for individuals, families and providers.

• Care coordination is a useful tool for helping patients with complex health needs navigate large and complex health systems.  Hospital social work departments have delivered such services for more than a century.

• Existing health system practices and public policies about cancer and other diseases often affect who receives treatment and how treatment is delivered.

• For example, later stage of breast cancer at diagnosis (associated with poorer outcomes), is more common among women living in census tracks in which higher percentages of residents live below the federal poverty line.
• Social workers and nurses are increasingly employed as patient navigators in underserved communities to help people access health care services sooner and to adhere to medical advice.